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Deb Chachra:
Every time I re-read Terry Pratchett, I find new ways that he articulated or shaped my worldview. https://instagram.com/p/BNXJvcGB9tv/

@debcha yes yes yes! books which keep on giving; with every re-read, they reflect or highlight something new depending on what’s happening in my life/what I’ve learned since reading them the last time. Rare works which are not only great in themselves, or a great mirror of the reader, but both simultaneously

For those unfamiliar with #puredata, the equivalent in python would be creating a script which, in order to get user input, writes another python script containing a reference to the first, which, when run by the user, sends its output back to the first script. Which then launches another python process (based on the results of the first sub-script), and manages it’s status.

It’s a programming paradigm which makes absolutely no sense in any other environment, but in puredata is surprisingly elegant — a pleasant side-effect of the programming environment and end-user environment being effectively the same.

Btw, this is the first experimental step towards the most exciting project idea I’ve had in quite some time… watch this space!

@aaronpk classic case of uneducated, path-of-least-resistance response to time-pressurised tech problem :/ saw key was expired, wanted to fix it, didn’t know only public keys expire not private ones, no obvious public key renewal UI flow in GPGTools UI, so made a new keypair. I suppose I’m stuck with the new one now as I revoked the old one. It’s a pity, as I actually got a few people to sign my old key, not that that seems to have a practical use case…?

”Romance—as dictated by dominant ideas and driven by the desires to peddle consumer goods like household appliances on carefully constructed family units—is an impossible-to-redeem mode of understanding love and intimacy and human interaction taught to us by capitalism.”

I would respond to

“We generally want to feel lovable, desirable, worthy, and seen, and we are taught that our ability to be any of these things comes, most importantly, from romantic partners. So why wouldn’t young people, in a period of increasingly relentless demands made by late capitalism, use the resources they have at their disposal to feel these intimacies and desirabilities as frequently as possible?”

with: yes, most of us are taught that, constantly, from all directions. That we are taught, however, is the point: it is a learned behaviour which can be unlearned.

Using the resources given to us by late capitalism to fulfill the needs bought about by late capitalism is all well and good, and I agree that for people to complain that the result is “millennials ruining romance” is ridiculous. But at least for me, the beginning of a constructive solution is to step outside of this system. Start to purposefully unlearn these associations, disassociate self-worth from romantic/sexual relationships, and consciously relate in ways not based on insecurity and love scarcity.

#protip if ordering rotary switches from Digikey, most of the ones they stock are adjustable (even if marked as fixed in the product description), so if the switch doesn’t seem to rotate to all of the positions, try taking the nut off and removing the index washer. I just received two supposedly “fixed-index” 12 pole switches which only rotated to 11 positions. Turns out they were actually adjustable and worked fine.

Anyone trying to email me using my gmail account: I don’t know where you found that address, but I never use it and almost never log in, so it’s not a good way to reach me. barnaby@waterpigs.co.uk remaims my only active personal email address.

the “Add Bank Account” functionality is broken, giving me only a vague error message for days now:

Your UK freephone number consistently doesn’t work, when I try to call it I just get “This number is not recognised”

Many links to help topics from within your own web UI are broken, leading to a “this help topic no longer exists” error page

When are you going to fix these obvious, basic problems? When am I going to get a response to my complaints? When can I get my money out of your obviously broken system? Why do I have to post about this on my own website/twitter to try to get a response out of you?

#paypal tip: Young people (under 18, in the EU) who want to create a paypal account for your enterprising businesses or other fun activities: before your 18th birthday, ONLY create accounts with disposable email addresses. Once your account gets credited with more than €2500 in one financial year, Paypal have to do an identity verification check, and when they find out you created an account before you were 18, they freeze it, and you have to create a new account with a new email address.

This is the twin of my current personal instrument, originally built four years ago but finished recently. The video was taken after only one day of setting up and breaking in, so it’s a bit scratchy, and intended to give an impression of the raw sound of the instrument (both acoustic and from the two internal pickups), ready for you to tame (or not, if you prefer!)

The instrument has three chanters (currently G, d and g), two drones (currently C and G) and two trompettes, also C and G. The C drone and trompette are fitted with capos, raising the pitch by one tone. The chanter bridge height is adjustable.

The instrument is fitted with two passive internal pickups, one on the soundboard below the bridge giving a good overall sound, and one on the chanter bridge itself, giving a very focused chanter sound (almost no trompette!). The sounds from both pickups can be heard in the video. There is one jack for each pickup, enabling you to mix them or apply separate effects externally.

The whole body is made from flamed maple, the keys and other small details are ebony, with screwed wooden tangents. The instrument is a prototype, and therefore has some minor cosmetic and design flaws; otherwise it is a fine, working instrument at a special prototype price.

I’ve already had some interest in the instrument and am waiting until Monday for a potential buyer to get back to me, other than that it’s first-come-first served. Any questions, etc. comment/message/email me barnaby@waterpigs.co.uk2016-10-18 this instrument is now sold to Isarnos in the UK — looking forward to hearing what they do with it! I’m currently building more instruments, drop me an email if you’re interested.